Jul 16 2009
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Aylesford, England (1251)
Mary’s continuing influence on the development of Christianity in England becomes apparent again with her appearance to Simon Stock, who became a member of the religous order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In her appearance to Friar Stock, Mary entrusted him with the brown scapular (two pieces of brown woolen cloth, usually embroidered with an outline of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and tied together by string and worn over the shoulders):
“My beloved son receive this scapular for your Order.
It is the special sign of a privilege which I have obtained for you and for all God’s children who honor me as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Those who die devotedly clothed with this scapular shall be preserved from eternal fire.
The brown scapular is a badge of salvation. The brown scapular is a shield in time of danger. The brown scapular ia a pledge of peace and special protection, until the end of time.”
After this apparition, Friar Stock went on to establish Carmelite communities near university towns in England, France and Italy. He became the Superior-General of his order several years after the apparition. Until very recently, the brown scapular was one of the most widely used religious symbols of personal dedication to the mission of Mary found in her last recorded words in the Bible (John 2:5). The promotion and use of all types of Marian devotional symbols has declined dramatically since the 1960′s.